You can definitely discover your ideal location for scuba diving in Marathon Key, whether seeking vibrant reefs bursting with life and enormous groupers lying on the sandy seabed or exploring some of the famous shipwrecks in the region. Every diver may find something to enjoy at the top dive spots in the Florida Keys.
Marathon is the ideal dive hub for reefs and wrecks, with less traffic than the famous Key West. It is an ocean-obsessed community that encompasses 13 of the Florida Keys. Find out where you can go for all your scuba equipment needs and some of the best locations for scuba diving in Marathon Key.
Captain Hook’s Dive Shop
You can get everything you need for your exploration of the water at Captain Hook’s Marina and Dive Center, which has been around since the 1950s. They have all the equipment you’ll need to enjoy a region renowned for world-class fishing, diving, snorkeling, dive instruction, certification, bait and tackle, scuba gear rentals, air tanks, and boat rentals.
Captain Hook’s is conveniently situated minutes from Marathon’s world-class reef and fishing grounds at the Vaca Cut bridge on the Overseas Highway (MM53).
Sombrero Reef
The Sombrero Lighthouse serves as a landmark for Sombrero Reef. This magnificent reef offers stunning coral formations and fine, white sand. It is home to a wide diversity of marine life, including “The Arch,” a naturally occurring eight-foot-high coral bridge.
Sombrero Reef is a shallow, easily accessible location for scuba diving in Marathon Key. It is perfect for novice divers and is especially suited for diving lessons. Boat access is available to reach the location. From the beautiful dive spot, you can snorkel or hone your diving abilities.
A Deep Blue Dive Center
The Marathon & Key Colony Beach is home to the PADI and NAUI-certified Deep Blue Dive Center, available to serve all your needs above and below the ocean. Since its establishment in 2004, A Deep Blue Dive Center has established a reputation for accommodating both small and large parties.
They have a team of instructors, dive masters, and captains who provide advanced technical scuba training in addition to snorkeling and dive-in-a-day experiences. You can go out spearfishing or go lobster hunting with their assistance.
A Deep Blue Dive Center also provides excursions to the world-famous Thunderbolt, Coffins Patch, Sombrero Lighthouse, and numerous more diving sites in the region.
Delta Shoal
Located off a sandy shoal, the Delta Shoals are a collection of coral canyons. Snorkelers and divers alike would enjoy the location. For those who enjoy underwater photography, this coral reef is also perfect.
Five miles east northeast of Sombrero Reef, this location has clean, shallow water (maximum depth of 25 feet), gentle currents, and decent visibility. Spiny lobster, colorful coral, tropical fish including angelfish, parrotfish, and damselfish, as well as a barge wreck covered in coral, are all to be expected when you go scuba diving.
Looe Key Marine Sanctuary
One of the most well-liked locations for scuba diving in Marathon Key is Looe Key, which is a section of Big Pine Key.
The cargo steamer Adolphus Busch, a 210-foot-long wreck, was transported from Haiti and sunk in 1998 to create an artificial reef 110 feet below the surface. Large holes have been carved into the side of this sophisticated wreck to allow swim-throughs.
More than 150 marine species, including barracuda, grouper, and sting rays, can be found in the area’s naturally occurring coral formations, which are thousands of years old.
Coffin’s Patch
Divers can find several species along the six patch reefs that make up Coffin’s Patch, which is located 3.5 miles east of Key Colony Beach. These include boulder coral, pillar coral, lobsters, eels, and jacks.
Six different patch reefs make up Coffin’s Patch, each displaying a prominent coral species. This reef system is great for snorkelers because the water is often only seven or eight feet deep. In less than 20 feet of water, Coffin’s Patch is covered in shallow elkhorn coral forests.
Divers of all skill levels frequent this area, which has depths between 10 and 40 feet. The Thunderbolt wreck, a challenging, deep dive, is about a mile distant. Coffin’s Patch rentals and dive tours are available through A Deep Blue Dive.
To visualize the underwater ecosystem of Coffin’s Patch, here’s a scuba diving video.
Yellow Rocks
Yellow Rocks is a group of ledges that extend east and west for more than 200 yards and rise about twelve feet above the floor, roughly three and a half miles off Key Colony Beach. Of course, lobsters can be found in plenty on ledges.
The Thunderbolt
In order to make an artificial reef, the 188-foot Navy research vessel Thunderbolt was purposefully sunk in 1986. The Thunderbolt has been a major draw in the Middle Keys since local divers bought and sank it. Divers take pleasure in this ecology, which is comprehensive and active, each time they dive into this wreck.
Adelaide Baker
The wreckage of a three-masted iron-rigged, reinforced wooden-hull bark is located 20 feet deep underwater, four miles south-southeast of Duck Key. The main components of this ship, known as the Conrad locally and thought to be the Adelaide Baker, are dispersed over a quarter-mile square region.
The 153-foot-long Adelaide Baker had a draft of about 21 feet. She represents a moment when the young United States was expanding and thriving. During the “American Period” of shipping in the 19th century, ships were the fastest (and perhaps the only) way to move commodities.
The ship’s remaining components are now home to a wide variety of organisms, including sponges, gorgonians, and encrusting corals.
The Florida Keys is one of the most incredible destinations in the world to go scuba diving, whether you’re a beginner or an expert. You are in for the experience of a lifetime while scuba diving in Marathon Key because of the beautiful reefs, historical shipwrecks teeming with life, and aquatic critters of all shapes and sizes that you can explore.
Several topside attractions and activities are available in and around the Florida Keys, such as parasailing, kayak fishing, and tent camping.
Scuba Diving In Marathon Key FAQs
Every diver may find something to enjoy at the top dive spots in the Florida Keys. The Keys are a scuba diving paradise for everyone, whether you’re an expert diver or a beginner, have a beginner’s certification or a more advanced one, or wish to explore man-made wonders or the biodiversity that you can explore along the reefs that are thousands of years old.
Marathon is the ideal dive hub for reefs and wrecks, with less traffic than the famous Key West. It is an ocean-obsessed community that encompasses 13 of the Florida Keys.
You can definitely discover your ideal location for scuba diving in Marathon Key, whether seeking vibrant reefs bursting with life and enormous groupers lying on the sandy seabed or exploring some of the famous shipwrecks in the region.
One of the most popular snorkeling and scuba diving spots in the Florida Keys is Sombrero Reef, which is a certified SPA area. It is home to a wide diversity of marine life, including “The Arch,” a naturally occurring eight-foot-high coral bridge.
You’ll view typical Caribbean marine life, including snapper, angelfish, grunts, parrotfish, and grouper, as well as nurse and reef sharks, possibly eagle rays, turtles, and stingrays.
The third-largest barrier reef in the world, Sombrero Reef is a stunning 30-acre coral reef that is 2 to 30 feet deep and home to hundreds of tropical fish. From the beautiful dive spot, you can snorkel or hone your diving abilities.
The Sombrero Lighthouse serves as a landmark for Sombrero Reef. This magnificent reef offers stunning coral formations and fine, white sand.
